Sunday, December 30, 2012

Nativity on the temple grounds. Note that there´s no baby Jesus... cause he
wasn´t born yet!!! they don´t put it out till Christmas Eve haha

A little nativity set that Rosa and Cesar got for me. They have one and I
was like oh my gosh! I want one and I showed up yesterday and they had one for
me!!! I LOVE them! haha

This is how I feel sometimes.... our little furry friend that we found in
the ditch! I thought they didn´t move fast! but he slapped the ground and I
jumped so bad. he was soooo scary and random! haha love it.

okay, so, I have so much to write and so little time! that reminds me of when I
only had 30 min in the CCM. sucked! anyway... so random little things first...
Elder Christopherson is coming in January. we may be getting 2 new sisters in
our house next week! yay! that means that I almost def stay in this area! I hope
so! I can't handle leaving right now! transfers are next week... For Mother's Day we had a mariachi band in the
church! way fun. 2 trumpets and a bass and reg guitar. I got my package at the Christmas party last Tuesday. came right in
time. but I'm not going to open all of it. I already grabbed my shirt and
shorts. they were poking out so I knew it was from you. the address was ripped off I think by the mish. but I won't open it till our phone call!
promise! haha. (No she did not wait, haha) next week we have to figure out what time to call....

Christmas here... we had lights on our house already, so we bought an extension
chord! and WE have LIGHTS! yay! haha it's great! it's weird that everyone's got
everything all decorated and it's so hot... haha. everyone here is obsessed
with the nativity scene. haha they're huge. Christmas trees are everywhere...
but it's not like ours. lots of fake trees too.

My comp goes home the next change. not this one. so in feb i think. I want
to stay, but Pres Ward's letters sound like I'll be leaving.... it's all good. I'm ready. I'm just going to miss these people soooo much! I have to make sure I
take pics!

And Christmas is big. I've heard that the 24th is bigger! and 25th is lazy
and you sleep in all day haha. I'm looking forward to it. just another day
working as a mish, but it'll all good.

the rains are pretty much gone until May now... I'm going to miss it. I LOVE
the rain so much.

fyi, today isn't p-day. we're going to the temple tomorrow, well our zone is
anyway... we have a wedding to do in the morning. so we might not go. it was
our idea too!!! and they're planning on going to the canal again and I haven't gone yet.... so o well, I'll find another time. I hope we make it to the temple
though... I haven't gone for a while and we're so close and who knows where I'll be
next change! haha

so some stories this week...

creepy lady. seriously... super creepy... we were headed all the way up
into progreso 4 and this older lady (again) was standing there on a hill in
front of us. waving us to come. so we come forward and she´s like¨I´ve been
waiting for you....¨okay, so we don´t even know this lady! haha. she doesn´t
even greet us. she just waves us on and says pasen pasen. haha. so we followed
her up to her little house and she contude on into her garden. she took us to
the end and pointed to flowers... er regular plants and had us admire them. I
then looked over and saw this figure sitting on the ground. it looked like the
back of a head with real long hair streaming down but nasty looking like it was
tacked onto the head. I then remembered that it´s normal to have life sized
dolls for the year cause they burn them for the new year. I looked over
and sure enough it was that. it´s like a big scarecrow. but with real hair
tacked to the top of it. CREEPY! haha. more happened, but that´s the jist.
later during and after the hymn she was like laughing hysterically and yeah...
and she said she was pregnant last time. not sure if that´s true. she´s crazy!
but I love her anyways... hahaha

so like 2 weeks ago, it was just pouring down rain. It was pday, and I was
crossing a river of rain water flowing down the street. I came out of it
really wet and without a shoe! one of my flip flops got stuck in the water and
I assumed it washed down the hill and flowed into this 2 and a half foot big
hole that all the water was rushing into. I was searching for a while shoeless,
while the men in the market were all laughing with me. it was hilarious!
really... haha later, this lady was like joven joven! I looked up and she was
pointing the area that I lost my shoe. I walked up and it got loose! and I
chased it down the hill a little while and jumped on it and stopped it! I
succeeded and then... a car passed and slashed water all over me. It was the
most fun I´d had in a long time! haha I raised my shoe in the air and waved at
the men and people standing in the market! yay!! success! haha

Flooding
A huge like super store was completely under water close to where we live.
soooo scarey. our water was super muddy for a few days. we were only out of
water for a day. I can´t believe how much water there was. I guess some one
waroking at the gate just desided to open it and it came rushing out. there
were a few deaths. the bridge was the worst part. since the super store was
under water, ALL the merchandise was ruined. the familia juarez went to check
it out cause they were just giving all the merchandize away. they came home
with big huge black bags filled with stuff. the store and clean up poeple s
just like bagged up what ever in bags. they got high heals, tons of ponchos,
tons of barbies and dolls (which is aweome for their little girl) and an awsome
tonka truck. tons more like christmas stuff and rugss and clothes too. like
early christmas! haha it was awesme. tons of familias came home all muddy and
with bags of stuff that day. I guess there were just tons and tons of people
there to get free stuff. petty awesome. I want free stuff! haha

Are you learning a lot by studying the scriptures?

SO much! I´ve never known so much! simple gospel topics on steroids and
then more complicated things like transfiguration and translation and the
celestial kingdom and things... haha but that´s just for free time. seriously,
I read the scriptures just for fun. I want to read Jesus the Christ when I get
home. I could read it here, but I just want to focus on the scriptures for a
year and half. Maybe I´ll change my mind later. but yeah, I´m learning so
much! I have really realized how much I don´t know! like I feel like I know nothing!!!

Yeah! I got our trees up, but not decorated. I sure am missing you when it
comes to home decorating. The boys just
don't really care much.

I miss that too! shoot! I wish I could be there... but then again, I want
to be here! I´ll be back home next year though, so no worries! haha only have to
suffer 1 christmas without me :)

I made a wonderful turkey soup for dinner. Lots of work boiling the carcass
and picking off the meat. Made me think of how they would do that in Panama; eat
it all up!

It´s so true. I´ve pealed lots of meat off bones here.

And how is your Spanish?

better, better, harder with a gringa comp. we have been speaking too much English... but it´s nice to chat in English. it´s refreshing, so I think I´ll
enjoy it while I can.

My comp is completely into the work. she´s awesome. we still make fun of
ourselves being with 2 gringas in front of the members and people. haha it´s
terrible and awesome at the same time. I want nachos!!!!! (An American dish I guess.)

That´s all I have to say! I want pictures! I want to see pics of Christmas and all!

We bought a chocolate cream pie and took it to Hna Yorgina´s. She´s the best
cook in Panama so, pretty much our dia de accion de gracias was great. Never
had rice for Thanksgiving dinner before. a first for everything. If I have to be
with a gringa comp, it´s not so bad to be with a gringa for a holiday that´s only
celebrated in our country. We kept asking each other what we were grateful for
all day.

I am excited to hear about your new comp.

So my comp is amazing! she knows how to be a mish. she really does. she
is teaching me so much. this transfer (sorry, I always call it a change cause
that´s what it is in Spanish, cambio) is going to fly by cause we´re working way
hard. love it. She´s the 3rd of 6 girls in her family. She´s way cool. Of course there are quirks
but what comp doesn´t have something. I´d prolly be my own worse comp! hahaha.
Love her already, even if she is a gringa...

How are the people in your ward? who feeds you? how is your Bishop there?
and do you teach lessons on Sunday?

We don´t have a bishop cause it´s a branch. Just a branch pres. he´s been
the pres for about 2 and a half months. they switched right after I was here.
he´s cool. the second counselor helps us a ton. the pres doesn´t have a car,
so I think that´s why the 2nd counselor helps us with more stuff. it´s just easier. Pres is great. the ward members are nice. the church
isn´t as strong in Panama as it is in the other Central American countries. Hna
Yorgina (I´ve written about her before, her name is Georgina in English) feeds
us when she can. She´s the best cook in all of Panama. NO JOKE. when we have
cena with her, that´s all I can think about between citas. we have our cocinera
(Hna Vicky) for lunch every day during the week. we have dinner with a fam
Saturday night, lunch with another fam on sunday and I think we´re going to
start getting more dinners during the week. today Hna Yorgina invited us over
for breakfast. SOOOO good. I love her, and her food, and her house, and I
love her family the most. tomorrow we have dinner with her too! yum. last
night she made tacos. shoot. so good. I don´t teach on Sunday. we just got a
lider misional this last week, so he´s been teaching gospel principles. at least we have
a lider misional now. and someone who wants to do a lot and work hard and has
energy. our church building is just a big, like you know, the mobile home materiel. like that. with a wood pulpit in the chapel. it´s pretty
different. our stake center is casi normal though. when I see like The District
videos, I remember how church buildings look in the states... haha weird.

so yesterday there was MAJOR floods in Panama. you have to
look it up online. it´s terrible. and I´m pretty sure it´s where the mish in
that area live. at 6am to 8am it filled with water. you have to look for films
of the dam that released all the water. they said it was from rain... but it
hasn´t been raining that much

some of what I experience: the music on the streets... look up aventura and
prince royce. the flood means roads are closed, an entire super market was covered with
water. and we don´t have any water in the house for three days! we have a tank
in the back yard though. fast showers and no way to clean our clothes!
yikes!

my battle wound is almost gone from the accident. pains only lasted a
week. it´s almost just a faint memory in the past! haha

Nitzia is a convert of about 10 months. guess what, she´s the relief
society pres! it´s amazing! she´s amzing! seriously, church members in the
states are crazy. we don´t need to be perfect. just full of love. we´re so
freaking judgmental! arg.....

Did you know that there are Lions Clubs here.... that was soooo weird for me
when I saw that..... haha like I´m not even in the retirement communities.... so
funny.

So have you used your multi-tool?

Yeah, love it. but you know what I´m more grateful for is my knife that you
bought me for my birthday last year. I totally brought it and I use it
EVERYday. (It's a serrated cheese knife that is open on the blade.)

How is your towel working out there?

love my towel. love! (This is the xlarge REI microfiber camp towel.)

Has summer weather began? I hope it's dryer.

rain has slowed up, but I loved the rain.... now it´s going to start drying
up. they said summer is cooler cause there´s more of a breeze.

Did you get some vinegar, hydrogen peroxide or alcohol to sterilize your
shoes and feet?

yes, but I haven´t done it yet.

Do you have a phone?

no. just our home phone which looks like a reg home phone but it´s
actually a cell

Do you get to eat much fruit?

yes. and it´s not normal fruit. I love love fruit

Do they have American food/grocery stores?

yeah, Panama has everything that a white person could want.

I
hope you get to celebrate a little. I'm sure there's not Turkeys, huh? Maybe
pumpkin pie?

I hope so! my comp and I are both gringas, so we´re so going to do a
thanksgiving! I WANT PIE! haha

here´s the news... my new comp is a..... GRINGA! what the frik! okay seriously ... that was my biggest fear! My one thing that I asked HF
(Heavenly Father) for! NO GRINGAS! and look what he did! he put me with an
amazing mish from south Utah. Her name is Hermana (Anne) Hurst. She´s blond and
blue eyed. It´s soooooo awkward! seriously! like two white girls walking down
this dirt road in the middle of Panama.... yikes, my friends. it´s not a pretty
sight. it´s so embarrassing. we have already talked about how this is so not
wanted. we constantly tell people and joke with people about being two gringas. seriously and that it sucks. I mean, we love each other... it´s like, like
worse than a big bright flashing white light walking down the streets.... but
we´re both tough though, I´m not too worried. THE GOOD NEWS. I´m going to
learn how to be amish. She´s amazing. She´s only got this change and the next
one left, but she´s on fire! So we´re going to be doing some major work here. She´s come from some of the best zones and districts with the highest numbers and
she´s way disappointed with our zone and district animo and goals. so we´re
going to do some kick butt work in my area this change.

so we were supposed to have 2 baps this Last Saturday... Rosa and Cesar, but they never showed up! We brought investigators to watch and everything and so
did another pair of mish. But it turned out that Cesar went with his uncle to
his work or something, but he never returned until almost 9 o'clock. We were
there when he got home. He started crying. It was soooo sad! He was like, I
told him that I had to be home at 4, I told him! I think and so does his other
uncle (in law) that his tio(Aunt) kept him away to keep him from getting bap. sooo
terrible right! the pòor thing! but, never fear! satan CAN´t win!!! they´re
planning on getting bap on this saturday! I´m so excited! I friking LOVE these
people!

Who's who?

I am a daughter, a sister, a friend, a Mormon, a student and a musician. I have been called to serve as a missionary for a year and a half in the Panamá Panamá City mission. I report to the Provo MTC for 3 weeks on JUNE 20TH followed by attending the Guatemala MTC for 6 weeks. I will speak Spanish, teach the gospel, make friends, write letters, walk a lot, be sun burnt, get tan, write in my journal, stay away from Malaria, be addressed as Hermana Schumacher and wear skirts past my knees. I will not watch TV, listen to the radio, use facebook, or call my family on days others than Mother's day and Christmas. Panamá, here I come!